Disaster Management

HOW WE RESPOND Our response is built on volunteers who live in the affected region and know its roads, villages and people. In the first hours the focus is rescue and safe shelter. Within days it moves to community kitchens, drinking water, medicines, clothing, tarpaulins and bedding. After the emergency, volunteers help with clean-up, repairing homes and getting livelihoods started again. Wherever possible we work alongside the district administration, health workers and other relief organisations. SOME OF THE DISASTERS WE HAVE SERVED Uttarakhand floods, 2013 After the June 2013 floods and landslides, the Uttaranchal Daivi Apada Peedit Sahayata Samiti, working with Sewa Bharati and Sewa International, ran relief from its Sewa Ashram at Maneri on the Gangotri road. According to Organiser, the Ashram sheltered pilgrims stranded at Gangotri between 17 June and 1 July, even though its own building was damaged by the river. A Sewa International field report dated 29 June 2013 described about 15 relief centres and roughly 5,000 volunteers serving food, running medical camps and helping with rescue. Jammu and Kashmir floods, 2014 In September 2014, Sewa Bharati workers in Jammu and Kashmir helped rescue people trapped by the floods, arranged last rites for the dead, built temporary shelters, distributed blankets and warm clothing, ran community kitchens (langars), supplied milk for children and gave medical aid. In the months that followed, relief material, construction material for repairing houses and small stalls to restart livelihoods were provided to affected families. Kerala floods, 2018 and later Sevabharathi Keralam volunteers took part in boat rescue, relief camps and clean-up during the 2018 floods. Sewa International's field reports, which are the organisations' own figures, mention more than 70,000 people rescued, over 120,000 volunteers involved, and the cleaning of about 27,600 houses and hundreds of public buildings. Volunteers have since returned to Kerala for later floods and landslides, with boats, ambulances and trained rescue teams on standby near vulnerable river banks and hill areas. Cyclone Fani, Odisha, 2019 When Cyclone Fani destroyed homes and uprooted trees across coastal Odisha, volunteers and local partners cleared fallen trees and debris, and sent trucks of tarpaulin sheets and drinking water to affected areas. Families whose thatched roofs had been blown away were given tarpaulin sheets to protect themselves from sun and rain. COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 onwards During the lockdown, units across the country served cooked meals and dry ration, distributed masks and sanitisers, ran temperature screening, prepared and distributed immunity-boosting herbal drinks such as kabasura kudineer in Tamil Nadu, and supported police and health workers. In places such as Chamba in Himachal Pradesh, relief kits were distributed together with partner organisations. Volunteers in Kerala and elsewhere also helped families carry out funerals safely when relatives could not. Relief for rail-accident victims, West Bengal, January 2022 Volunteers set up a relief stall near Mainaguri in West Bengal on 14 January 2022, serving tea and refreshments and helping people at the site. RECENT RELIEF In 2025, according to Organiser's June 2026 coverage of Sewa Bharati's work: - Kishtwar, Jammu and Kashmir (August): ambulance services, food, medical aid and shelter after cloudbursts. - Guna, Madhya Pradesh (July): hot meals for over 800 people at relief centres. - Mandi, Himachal Pradesh: bedding, food and tarpaulins for families hit by landslides and rockfall. - Uttarakhand (August): volunteers carried ration bags on foot to flood-hit Dharali. - Wayanad, Kerala: eight new homes handed over under the "Sneh Nikunjam" project, as part of a pledge to rehabilitate twelve landslide-affected families. HOW YOU CAN HELP Disaster relief runs on volunteers and on funds that can be released quickly. You can donate to our disaster relief (APDA) fund, or register as a volunteer so that your local unit can call on you when it is needed. Use the buttons below. Sources: Organiser (18 August 2013; 15 September 2014; 20 June 2026), Sewa International and Sewa USA field reports (2013 and 2018), and IDRF's J&K floods project page. Figures from relief organisations are self-reported.